Volunteers who pick up litter in Langley have been seeing less roadside trash this year.
While no one is declaring victory just yet, most view it as an encouraging sign that the no-littering message is gaining ground.
In Murrayville, where Christine Turley and husband Spencer, of Murrayville Plumbing & Heating, their kids and supporters carried out their second Earth Day cleanup on Sunday, April 21st, she estimated they found less than half the amount they picked up in 2023.
“There was way less garbage this year, probably by 10 bags, than there was last year,” Turley estimated.
“That includes recycling as well.”
“I think people are noticing how easy it is to just walk around their community and pick stuff up,” she speculated.
”I think the more that they see people do it, it becomes automatic.”
The family has also adopted 216th Street, where they have been conducting regular cleanups for six years.
During the Township-wide Clean Up Langley event on Saturday, April 13, members of the Rotary Club Langley Sunrise chapter noticed a similar trend in Fort Langley, where June Jones and fellow Rotarians found noticeably less litter.
”I mean, we had nine volunteers, and we were pretty much done in about an hour and a half,” Jones told the Langley Advance Times.
“There was probably about eight bags of garbage, and then some construction materials as well,” Jones said.
Like Turley, Jones thinks as more folks are becoming aware about dumping issues, they are less inclined to do it.
“People, I think, are generally worried about the state of the earth,”Jones commented.
“Maybe people are starting to take pride in the wonderful place we live in.”
Rotary was one of 10 groups who took part in the Township clean-up event.
In Brookswood, Langley Elks Lodge #259 also noticed an overall decline of litter, in some areas, but event chairperson Vern Munroe cautioned it was a different story in some locations.
“We’ve always had a problem on 200B [Street] because it’s kind of secluded there,” Munroe cited as an example.
“It’s like a side street and there’s an empty lot … and people always throw garbage [there].”
Overall, Elks volunteers collected about four bags of trash, plus a fridge and some car parts left by the side of the roads.
“Some of the things you find here are incredible,”Munroe commented.
Other participants in the event included the Bertrand Creek Enhancement Society, which swept Aldergrove for trash, the Langley Meadows Community Association, in Willoughby, and the Walnut Grove Community Park Cleanup, in Walnut Grove.
In all of the Langley pickup initiatives noted, the Township supplied work gloves, safety vests, garbage pickers, and trash bags to those who registered in advance.
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On Saturday, May 25th, the Township-wide Garage Sale will return, with dozens of households already registered online and listed on an interactive map at www.tol.ca/en/services/township-wide-garage-sale.aspx.
Running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the sale aims to reduce waste by “giving new life to items that would otherwise end up recycled or sent to the landfill,” the Township page encouraged.
“By participating, you’ll not only reduce your waste, but you’ll also meet others in your community and make some cash in the process.”